CRI听力:Express Delivery Service in China Needs an Upgrade

As China's online marketplaces celebrate and savor their record-breaking trading performances, delivery companies sit and reflect on their strained service capabilities.

Zhejiang Internet Supply Chain Service Provider Company provides sorting and delivery services for more than 40 businesses on Taobao. The company's vice general manager Luo Gui says they were stretched to the limit this past weekend, as they saw a tremendous surge in parcels.

"Normally we have thousands of orders everyday, but on Single's Day, we had more than 250 thousand orders. And by the end of the next day, we had over 300 thousand orders in total."

With a special extra labor force from local universities and colleges, employees felt overworked.

"Usually we deal with 700 to 800 parcels daily, but the number surged to three or four thousand for the special day, we barely had time for a rest."

Despite recruiting an average of 30 percent more employees, express delivery companies also expanded their warehouse areas, truck numbers and other equipment to get through the unofficial holiday.

Statistics from the National Post Bureau shows that, as of the end of last year, the number of China's legitimately registered express delivery services reached over 6,800, and the express delivery service network nationwide hit over 64000. There are more than 700,000 employees serving in the industry.

Industry insiders say that the current express delivery service is a labor intensive industry relying on manual sorting and crowd-strategy distribution. This sector is in dire need of technological upgrades to meet the rising demand from domestic markets and foreign competition.

Major express delivery services in China, like Yuantong and Shunfeng, purchase or rent cargo aircraft to reduce transit and raise efficiency and reliability. Wang Jinlong is vice president of Yuantong express delivery company.

"Having your own all-cargo aircrafts is the most important part of the transformation and upgrade process. Once we got our own aircrafts, we had much more capability over delivery, and we can make sure there are fewer delayed deliveries."

Yuantong purchased 5 Boeing 737 aircrafts to provide next-day delivery services for customers in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions. Its counterpart, Zhongtong Express Delivery Service, also raised their investment in air transport, hiking their next-day delivery service from 40 to 100 tons.

At the same time, some of them are using IT technology to upgrade their services. Taobao Mall equipped itself with an early warning system to monitor timely delivery. Gong Tao is the manager of Taobao Mall's logistics manager.

"We can see whether sellers have finished packaging their products, if the parcels are en route and whether or not buyers have received their parcels. We pay attention to the whole process."

Gong says that if any of the routes are jammed, they will inform their customers to choose other routes and services. Express delivery services like Yunda have been promoting handheld electronic registration devices with which couriers can update conditions, whether it's sorting or on its way.

For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.